An interactive projector system that projects games, puzzles and activities on to any flat surface has proved so popular among young patients waiting in Children’s Outpatients at the Royal Preston Hospital that the team at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Charity which funded it through its Children’s Appeal now wants to buy more!
The additional motion-sensitive equipment, which responds to its user’s gestures, including wheelchair wheels, will be for Ward Eight, the Children’s Ward at the hospital, and also for Broadoaks Child Development Centre in Leyland.
Each of the OmiVista projectors costs £8,812.20 but Children’s Clinic Manager Emily Moore explained: “Through playing games such as air hockey, going on dinosaur fossil digs or making music, the projectors are used to help keep children mentally stimulated and entertained.
“As the system already being used in Children’s Outpatients has demonstrated, they also help take children’s minds off being in hospital, which in turn, reduces their stress levels.”
Emily added: “The projectors are very easy to set up and use. They project on to walls, floors and tables and their range of more than 300 apps are suitable for toddlers through to older children. They can be taken into a side room if a child has to stay in isolation and we can also use their games to encourage children to get out of bed and move around.”
The charity team received three grants to help towards the cost of its first projector with funding of £3,000 from the Shepherd Street Trust, £2,500 from St James Place and £1,500 from the North West Community Fund.
Appeal fundraiser Lucy Clark said: “We are extremely grateful to the three organisations which helped us buy our original projector. On the one hand, play equipment may be seen as non essential but in reality, by reducing anxiety and providing stimulus, it can help children get better more quickly and is hugely valued by young patients, their families and staff.”
The charity team’s Children’s Appeal is aiming to raise £1 million for a wish list of items to bring about a raft of improvements to children’s in and outpatients at the Royal Preston Hospital, Chorley and South Ribble Hospital, Leyland’s Broadoaks Child Development Centre and all other children’s facilities managed by Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.